It is known that many drugs and hormones, e.g. most peptidic and proteinic drugs are susceptible to degradation at the site of administration. In addition, some proteinic and peptidic drugs have very short in-vivo half lives. Consequently, multiple injections or multiple oral doses are required to achieve desirable therapy. It is desirable to increase the therapeutic efficacy of these drugs by using a controlled release delivery system. Attempts have been made to provide controlled release by means of tablets or capsules. However, none of these methods are entirely satisfactory. The present invention is intended to provide an oral or injection delivery system which is more cost efficient than previous methods and alleviates the aforementioned performance difficulties. The drug or hormone is sometimes referred to herein as the active ingredient.